Second Time Around

by Darrin Lowery

“Maybe. When was the last time you were in church, Brandon?”

  “Shit, a while.”

  “How long?”

  “I don’t know. I think I was eleven the last time I was in church.”

  Vaughn laughed.

  “Okay, boss man, when was the last time that you were in church?”

  Vaughn stopped laughing.

  “I was in church just last week.”

  “Vaughn, we loaned that church money that we were in last week. When was the last time you were in church for services?”

  “I don’t know, but I wasn’t eleven.”

  “No, but I’m betting you have been away from church more years than I have.”

  “You may be right. But we’re not talking about me. You need to get closure on this matter. You need to go see her.”

  “Okay, when?”

  “I don’t know. But definitely not until we get back to the States.”

  “What do I say to her?”

  “I don’t know, son.”

  “You’re a lot of help, you know that, old man?”

  “Who you calling old?”

  The two men laughed and had a few more drinks before watching an in-flight movie. Brandon watched the movie and tried to pay attention, but he could only think of one thing.

  What do I say to her the next time that I see her?

  Chapter Thirty-five

  During the two weeks that Vaughn was gone, Korie and Darren did everything under the sun. They went to see plays, they went to Bulls games, they went to clubs, and of course they made love like teenagers, two or three times a day. Korie forgot how insatiable she could be. She forgot what it was like to make love every day for a week. She forgot what it was like to wake up tired, but a good kind of tired from long bouts of lovemaking. Darren cooked at her place, he brought movies over, and they went everywhere together hand in hand as they did years ago.

  Korie was supposed to be weighing her options. She was supposed to be thinking about what both men brought to the table. Instead, she was enjoying Darren’s company and everything he had to offer.

  Everything.

  She found herself lost in time. The way that they were now was the way that things should have been years ago. He loved her. He was happy with her. Now that he was successful, he wanted to give her the world as he had promised years ago. He even wanted to start having those babies that she wanted years ago. And she wanted to have babies.

  She wanted to have his babies.

  At the beginning of the second week, Korie got to see Darren’s place for the first time. She was in awe of the condo that he had on Lake Shore Drive. His place reminded her of Eddie Murphy’s condo in the movie Boomerang. Darren had hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, fresh flowers, and the entire place had modern art pieces and the furniture was all first class. The condo was decorated the exact same way Korie would have done it had she been the interior designer.

  The living room had two modular leather sofas. One was white with black pillows and the other was black with white pillows. Both sat on a large white area rug with smoked glass tables in front of them. The walls were adorned with African American art and the living room was accented by a picture-window view of Lake Michigan. He had a full bar, soft music playing overhead, recessed lighting in the ceiling, and what appeared to be aluminum ceiling fans from the Modern Fan Company. He had a fabulous bedroom, a study, and a bathroom with a Jacuzzi. His condo was on the fifteenth floor. The enclosed balcony overlooked the city and had two chairs and a table where two people could dine and watch the fireworks in the summertime or simply overlook the lake and the evening sky on a romantic night.

  The balcony also had a speaker system and windows that opened outward so the balcony could take in the evening air. Simply put, his place was incredible. Korie walked out onto the balcony and overlooked her city. Chicago was beautiful at night. She took a few minutes to take it all in. She closed her eyes and took in the evening air from the balcony and wondered if she and Darren could continue to pick up where they left off. She wondered could things be better the second time around. Just as she went deeper in thought, she felt two hands hug her around her waist. She smiled as she took in his cologne.

  “You’re not wearing your ring,” he said smoothly in her ear.

  “I know. All of this is so sudden.” She shook her head as if she were still trying to awaken from some dream. “This . . . situation. It’s so hard.”

  “It doesn’t have to be.”

  “But it is.” She turned to face him.

  “Because he has money?”

  “What?”

  “Vaughn. We’re talking about Vaughn now, right?”

  Darren walked back into the condo and made himself and Korie drinks. He had rum and Coke and she had a seven and seven. He sat on the white couch. Korie sat on the black couch. She took a sip of her drink.

  “It’s not about the money.”

  “Then what is it?”

  “He cares for me.”

  “Yeah, well, I love you.”

  “You didn’t love me enough to stay five years ago.”

  “I did, but that wasn’t what was best for us. Now, while it may be true that I messed up and true that I regret my decision, I only regret it because I lost you. Not because of everything else. My leaving was the best thing that could have happened for us, career-wise. I mean, look at you. Look at all that you’ve accomplished. Look at me and tell me you think we would be here if we stayed together five years ago.”

  “Okay, we wouldn’t have. I admit that. But would things have been so bad?”

  “Bad? No. Chances are we would have had at least two kids by now, you would have been laid off from your job, and I would still have had my job. No private practice. No condo on Lake Shore Drive. We would have made it. We would be okay. But that’s just the thing, Korie, we would just be okay. We deserve more than that. We deserve better than that. So do our children.”

  “We don’t even have kids yet.”

  “Listen to yourself.”

  “What?”

  “You said yet. You want to have babies with me. You want this. You want to pick up where we left off and I know you want to see how far our relationship can go. Deep down, Korie, you want this. Deep down you know this is where you belong.”

  “Then what is holding me back, Darren?”

  “Vaughn has millions. He’s a man of means. He took you to Tokyo. What’s fucked up about that is taking you to Tokyo was my idea, only I didn’t know that it was you he was taking. He loves you. I get that. You like him, though. Every conversation that we had you talked about the fact that you like him. Not once have you told me that you loved him. Not once have you said you were in love with him. You said you were seeing someone. You said it was serious, but you never used the word love.”

  “I haven’t told you that I love you, either.”

  She said it to defend herself. She said it to throw him off balance. It didn’t work. It was like trying to knock down a wall with a sponge. He had a sip of his drink and then placed it on the table and walked over to her.

  “Stand up.”

  Korie stood up and looked at him face-to-face.

  “You haven’t told me that you love me, but you don’t have to. I see it in your eyes. I see it in your smile. I feel it when I hold your hand. I feel it when I’m near you. I feel it when I’m inside of you. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don’t love me. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you ever stopped loving me. Tell me that you don’t want this. Tell me that your heart and spirit aren’t telling you that things can be better the second time around. Korie, I love you. Tell me that you don’t still love me.”

  She looked in his face and all she saw was sincerity. She looked in his eyes and saw nothing but unbridled love. She knew. He knew. They were meant to be together. He may have broken her heart when he left, but her soul was healed with his return. This time, it would be different. This time it would be better. Tears streamed down h
er face as she looked at him. Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked at her.

  “Baby, tell me you don’t still love me,” he said smoothly.

  “I can’t. I do still love you.”

  “Then marry me.”

  They kissed.

  “I will. I will marry you.”

  They kissed. He picked her up and carried her to his bedroom, where they made love well into the night.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  DeVaughn and Brandon closed their deal. In the corporate world they were like an educated, yet urban Batman and Robin. They closed the deal in record time. It only took four days to convince their competitors to fold, and another two to draw up the proper contracts. Brandon wanted to hurry up and get home. He wanted to meet with Jayna and speak with her. He wasn’t sure about what he would say, but he assumed that DeVaughn was right. One way or the other, they needed closure.

  Both men wanted to get home, but both men wanted to experience Germany as well. It was their first time there, and from what they understood, there was in fact plenty to do.

  The concierge at the hotel where they stayed explained that Germany was one of the most beautiful places in the world. The concierge also stated that Germany had some of the most beautiful women in the world. Seeing that Vaughn and Brandon were of African American descent, the concierge told them that Germany had beautiful women of all nationalities, including black women.

  Vaughn smiled at the suggestion but declined. Brandon, who was still trying to put Jayna out of his mind, was intrigued. After some talk, Brandon reluctantly convinced Vaughn to go to a nightclub in Germany their sixth night there. That night they ate, drank, and enjoyed themselves in the VIP section of one of the most expensive clubs in the country.

  Women watched them; men watched them and the jealousy in the air from seeing two African American men, whom they referred to as caffers, live like kings, incensed some of the clubs patrons. Vaughn watched the people that were watching him. He was not unfamiliar with jealousy. It was something that he dealt with his whole life. Brandon simply shrugged them off as haters. He figured that haters were a worldwide problem. Brandon took two women back to his hotel room that night. He did it in an effort to forget about Jayna.

  He failed.

  No matter what he did, it seemed that Jayna was a permanent fixture in his heart.

  During the next few days, the two men visited Stuttgart to visit the Mercedes home office and Munich to visit the BMW home office. Vaughn rented a top-of-the-line Mercedes. Brandon rented a top-of-the-line BMW. The two men decided to make their last four days a working vacation and although they came together, they had separate activities during the remainder of their stay.

  Brandon needed a distraction. He needed time to get himself together, time to reflect on what, if anything, he would say to Jayna. She hurt him. Worse yet, she embarrassed him. Still, he loved her. He tried to tell himself that her past was simply that: Her past. He tried to tell himself what she did was not his concern, and should have no bearing on how he felt for her.

  He felt that she was promiscuous, a whore, and a loose woman. The thing that burned at him most was the fact that she didn’t have to be. She was a successful businesswoman who had no need to bed a man for anything other than companionship. Yet here she was sexing men like it was a hobby or a race.

  He then thought about all the women he bedded over the years and wondered to himself why it was okay for him to do it, but not okay for her? He was considered in many circles to be a playboy. He thought, couldn’t she just be considered a playgirl? He looked for reasons to forgive her and then wondered to himself why he would even consider such a thing.

  Because I love her, he thought.

  Brandon went to Berlin’s Pergamon Museum to look at antique art. He went to a number of galleries, where he saw pictures that he and Jayna had talked about while looking in art magazines at home in the United States. Germany was one of three places Jayna said that she wanted to see before she died, along with France and Africa.

  He visited the Charlottenburg Palace on the east side of Berlin. It was the largest surviving palace in the capital, built for Sophie Charlotte, wife of Prussia’s King Friedrich I, in the late 1600s. While there, he then wondered if he could simply just go home and tell Jayna that he loved her. He wondered if perhaps the two of them could run away somewhere and get married. They could marry somewhere like here. Somewhere like the very palace he was visiting.

  But running away was not the answer.

  And Brandon was not a runner.

  Like everything else in his life, he had to tackle this issue head-on. He needed to examine how was it that he could come to love a woman so deeply who hurt him so bad. She wasn’t malicious. It wasn’t her intent to hurt him. In fact, she was trying to get help.

  But how do you marry a woman who has slept with many men that you know?

  He was torn. He was conflicted. Worse yet, he still loved her. He needed time to think. He thought to himself where better to think than halfway across the world? Brandon ventured to the Harz Mountains, the Black Forest in Schwarzwald, and the Bavarian Alps. He went walking, skiing, and watched people training for the winter games. He bought a camera and took pictures of everything he saw. The trips he took were magnificent. The views he saw were breathtaking. He saw sights that some people would never see in a lifetime. All he could think was one thing: I wish she was here to see these things with me.

  The next day he took a one-day cruise on the river; the day after that he rode a historic steam train in Saxony; and another on the coast of Mecklenburg. He went to a theme park in Friedberg, a soccer match in Hamburg, and a number of vineyards. He found beauty in every stop, romance in every stop, and with each stop he thought how wonderful it would be if she were with him. He imagined himself holding her hand, her passionate embrace, and he even thought about the intoxicating scent of her perfume. He missed her. He needed to go home. He needed her back in his life.

  He was incomplete without her.

  He loved her, flaws and all.

  Vaughn’s last days in Germany were quite different. He was in his hotel room having a sip of brandy and deep in thought his first day of his working vacation. He phoned Korie every day that he was gone. He missed her; he missed her a great deal. However, it seemed that to a degree that the tables had somehow been turned on him. He would phone her and tell her that he missed her, but these days she was always busy. She would talk to him anywhere between ten and twenty minutes, but the conversations seemed as if they were changing.

  He wondered in the back of his mind if she were upset with him because of his work schedule. He wondered was she mad that he left the country. He also thought, how much money is too much? He made millions of dollars. He made his company billions. He would never want for anything and neither would his children.

  Children he didn’t have.

  Children who would be heirs to his empire.

  His wife died before they could have children. He never thought about having children with anyone other than his wife. He gave that idea up when she died. That is, until Korie.

  Vaughn needed an heir.

  He wanted to have a baby.

  He wanted Korie to have his baby.

  If his wife were alive she would be too old to have children now. He always assumed when he married again, if he married again, that his wife would most likely be too old to conceive.

  Korie was young. Korie was fertile and Korie would make a great mother. He sat in his hotel room and thought about his future. He thought about who would carry on his family name. He thought about marriage. He was ready. He made up his mind that he would ask Korie to be his wife.

  He stopped sipping his brandy long enough to go into the bathroom and relieve himself. His view of Germany from his hotel was breathtaking.

  She should be here, he thought.

  He was just about to get dressed when there was a knock at his door. Vaughn assumed that it was Brandon. It was his last da
y in Germany and he assumed that Brandon wanted to know what time they would be meeting at the airport tomorrow morning.

  He opened the door and on the other side was a distinguished-looking older gentleman. He looked like the actor Willem Dafoe. He had distinct glasses on, round John Lennon–like spectacles. He wore what looked like a 3,000-dollar custom-made suit, and with him was a briefcase in hand.

  “Can I help you?” Vaughn asked.

  “May I come in?” the man said with a heavy German accent.

  “That depends. Who are you?”

  “I am a dealer, Mr. Harris. The concierge suggested that I stop by to see you.”

  “The concierge?”

  “Yes, sir. You are DeVaughn Harris, are you not?”

  “ I am.”

  “Then I am in the right place. May I?”

  Vaughn stepped aside so that the man could enter. He walked into the vast hotel room that could double for an apartment. He sat at the table in the foyer of the hotel room area and opened his briefcase.

  “Hold on. What exactly is in the briefcase?”

  “Something better than drugs.”

  “I didn’t ask for anything. I especially didn’t ask for anything better than drugs.”

  “But in the States, you do use Elite Escorts, do you not?”

  “Double E, so that’s what this is about. Listen, I no longer need the services of your company, I told you all that.”

  “I am not with double E, sir.”

  “No, then who?”

  “I’m a private dealer.”

  “Then how do you know about my history with double E?”

  “I make it my business to know when men of means leave one of my competitors.”

  “One of your competitors? So you have . . . products in the States as well.”

  “I do. I’m global.”

  “And your name is . . .”

  “Here is my card.”

  The man who looked like Willem Dafoe handed Vaughn a black card with gold numbers on it. There was no name, only the silhouette of a woman. He pulled two catalogs from his briefcase. One for the United States, one was global. Vaughn looked at the man and laughed a bit. It took balls to come to his hotel room like this. Aside from that, Vaughn was impressed. Damned impressed.